When people think of a chief executive, they may picture someone who is decisive, bold and strong. But for Channel 4 CEO Alex Mahon, her primary role is to take the blame for others.
“Everything’s my fault,” Mahon says, while speaking on stage at the CIPD Festival of Work. “My job is to cover the people underneath me and help them… That’s why you’re paid the most; you’re not paid the most because you're better. You're paid the most because you need to take responsibility and you need to be ready for that.”
This notion of responsibility is also reflected in Mahon’s attitude to decision-making. “No easy decisions should have to be made by the CEO,” she says. “All the obvious decisions should have already been made. The only decisions that a CEO should have to make are either really hard or really risky.”